Where Do Amino Acids in Plants Come From?

Amino acids in plants are created during photosynthesis, which produces nutrients for the plant to continue growing. Find out how plants create their own amino acids with plant advice from an urban horticulturist in this free video on gardening. View Video Transcript

About this Author

Stan DeFreitas Mr Green Thumb

Video Transcript

Hi I'm Stan DeFreitas, Mr. Green Thumb. Where do amino acids come in plants? How does that develop? Well, amino acids are developed in the plant much like we do through photosynthesis. We're talking about carbon, we're talking about hydrogen, we're talking about oxygen and we're also talking about some of the nitrogen molecules that combine. Now you can get into a long scientific ring of how these carbon and hydrogen molecules combine, but in general it's enough to say that the plant can make the amino acids in the plant much like we can make different acids and different fats in certain plants because of the way things come together. If you've got carbon, you've got oxygen, you've got hydrogen and you've got nitrogen, you've got building blocks for life. And amino acids are building blocks for life. Remember when you get your plant, your fertilize it with nitrogen, usually phosphorous and some potassium. Those are the three main elements. Nitrogen helps to form the amino acid in the plant during the process of photosynthesis. Amino acids are important to me and you and they're important to our plants. For askmrgreenthumb.com, I'm Stan DeFreitas.